


Closer, I Know It

by WhoknewZeus



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, I made to pass the time, M/M, Poetry, Romance, What can I say here, Yearning, because thats all they will get from me, because thats what they deserve, just a small fic, maybe tag more later on, old love brought back to life, still giving them a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 11:54:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12681372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoknewZeus/pseuds/WhoknewZeus
Summary: If life had a guidebook to how to approach exes, it would have helped Chanyeol confront his ex Do Kyungsoo at a random party that he was invited to.“A lot of has changed between us, huh, hyung?” Kyungsoo remarked with a sober smile. Tight grip on the waist of his red cup, uneasy by the fact that there would be nothing for him to hold with his antsy fingers if he did let go of the object. Grasping at anything in the air to say, “Has life been good to you?”An honest question out of curiosity and concern, but it was still desperate to keep the talk alive by the neck. Chanyeol answered with a shy nod, “It has.”Kyungsoo squeezed a little at his cup. His eyes attempted to find something peculiar in the dancing crowd, but it only shadowed over his anxiety. He hated to admit that Chanyeol really did look handsome tonight, and his heart was not reliable as it was too busy running away. “Good.”Could it be possible for Chanyeol to bring him and Kyungsoo back together? Or will he stand by and let opportunities for a change slip through his fingers?





	Closer, I Know It

**Author's Note:**

> Yup, here's a Chansoo story bc I'm still trash for this ship and love them. I used their kokobop hairstyles in this bc that was the time I wrote this in (now that it's fucking finally being posted). 
> 
> I also want to clarify on the reason behind the title bc I just want to give credence to the fact that the inspiration I had for this story was from two songs that I was listening to while free writing. 
> 
> 1.) The music video for Closer by Chainsmokers ft. Halsey gave me the weird urge to write the setting as a party for a good portion of the story's plot development. I liked the vague relationship between the two main characters in the music video that displayed this sense of yearning for the other but seeming like they had to depart from each other's lives in the past. It's given to the viewers on whether or not they actually confront and face this awkward tension they have together in the end of the video, and if they get back together at all or go their separate ways. Either way, I wanted to have a similar situation between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo in this story. 
> 
> 2.) The "I Know It" part came from the song (I Know It [big surprise, y'all]) by Crystal Kay. The lyrics of the song actually gave me a weird inspiration to keep the characters to continue having this longing despite not having anything to do with each other's lives anymore. Their own free will allows them to interact with each other to see if there will be a reaction between them or not. But it also gives off this vibe like they seem like they 'know' what they are doing but at the same time they don't really know what they're doing. It's contradictive, but it's how people are half the time anyways. 
> 
> Anyways!! Thank you for reading all that and choosing to read this small chansoo fic I wrote on the side while I'm trying to set up my research paper for class ^__^ but yeaah, enjoy it as you can.

Park Chanyeol, a college major in (general) English, was at a party. A party that unmistakably was supposed to be fun. He wasn’t a wallflower nor was he a saint. As faulty as a person he could be, he was here to loosen his tight grip of depressing reality. 

 

By modern day terms, the definition of a college party should be exhilarating, irresponsible, and a night of regrets and wonders. At least, it was how Chanyeol was defining this stereotypical party that he was invited out to. “Mistakes,” softly groaned Chanyeol, back against the kitchen counter as he watched the crowd sloppily dance in the living room, “mistakes have been made.”

 

To be fair, he had a good time at the start of the party, drinking cheap booze and kissing a variety of guys and girls he never met before and probably wouldn’t meet again after the party was over. A sea of fish, but no one to catch him nor did he want to be caught. Still, he lost interest at a modest pace, and no more rounds at the beer pong table because Chanyeol needed a clear mind to be able to work on his literature homework later on. 

 

Eh. Procrastination got the best of most, if not all, students.

 

Chanyeol could have fun once in awhile. He was still human and not a manufactured robot after all.

 

To reiterate, Chanyeol wasn’t a wallflower. Don’t get him wrong. He was only playing his cards right, which was something his friends weren’t doing.

 

And where was  _ his  _ friends? First, Baekhyun made no reappearance after Chanyeol lost him at the poolside. Second, Sehun was supposed to be the responsible one and keep everyone from drinking their kidneys out, but it was nothing but an ironic foreshadow since Sehun was dead drunk on the couch while strangers were drawing various shapes and sizes of sexual reproductive organs all over his face. Lucky for Chanyeol to be able to bask in all of its hilarious glory. Finally, Joonmyeon was drunk also, but he was ranting about the harsh reality of all his acting-related classes at the very poolside that Chanyeol lost Baekhyun. Amazing. Very reliable Chanyeol’s friends proved to be.

 

Don’t blame Chanyeol here! He knew he should be that awesome friend to protect his own friends from danger, but he secretly wanted Sehun to suffer the morning after with proof on his face.

 

Okay, maybe you could refer to Chanyeol as a snake there. He’d take full responsibility for his actions later.

 

Right now, he wanted something exciting to happen. And maybe he was praying a little too hard in his head because the stars in the sky must have answered… in all the wrong ways possible.

 

“Chanyeol-hyung?” Do Kyungsoo, his ex-boyfriend, appeared in the kitchen from the dancing crowd behind him. Dressed in a semi-casual clothing, Chanyeol supposed he expected that style from Kyungsoo. It certainly was different from the tacky school uniform they used to wear all the time in their high school days. “I, uh, wasn’t expecting you tonight.”

 

“Chill, neither was I,” Chanyeol shrugged, proposing that small talk wasn’t out of bounds for exes to do together. As Chanyeol remembered it, he and Kyungsoo mutually broke up. There was no lingering petty feelings behind their departure from each other’s life. It was a welcomed solitude that paved the way to individuality and liberty. But why was it, now of all times, hard to keep his cool together? 

 

“Okay, Carnaval Hair,” Kyungsoo chuckled, pointing tenderly at Chanyeol’s pastel blue and pink hair that he dyed recently, standing nearby Chanyeol as they were analyzing the blob of bodies dancing -offbeat- of a hip-hop remix of a pop song. 

 

Kyungsoo was one to talk, though. He certainly wasn’t keeping his original black hair and tiny bangs as Chanyeol begrudgingly glanced at the caramel-brown hair underneath him. Oh, yeah. Kyungsoo was short. Chanyeol held back his uneasiness and wanted to let out a soft chuckle instead after he realized that he and Kyungsoo were too out of touch from each other to be talking as if they were acquainted again. God, what a mess would they be if they wanted to respark the old flame?

 

Heading to the fridge, Kyungsoo pulled out a bottled Cola and poured it into the signature red cup before he added a splash of beer to complete his mixer. “I’m sorry, did you want some?” Kyungsoo kindly offered the cold opened glass to Chanyeol, but it was rejected respectfully.

 

“I think I had enough to drink as it is.”

 

“Can you at least hold this for me?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Amazing, you’re quite the alcoholic,” Kyungsoo lightly joked, downing his drink in one go, realizing his night was going to be long. Forgetting entirely about the beer bottle in Chanyeol’s hand, he shook his head, common sense becoming a ditsy fool.

 

Chanyeol snided him for the comment, but he could only produce empty threats to the person that took his heart in freshmen year. Soft eyes gleaming with old interest, it was a mistake to push forward with this conversation, but this went back to the first point he made about parties—‘it was a night of regrets and wonders.’ “I’ll let you know that I’m not a lightweight, but I know where my self-control is unlike any alcoholic would know about,” protested Chanyeol, removing his waist from the counter’s edge and pulling himself closer to left of Kyungsoo. 

 

Standing there. 

 

Awkwardly. 

 

Like a couple after embarrassingly fighting. 

 

Except they weren’t a couple. 

 

Technically, not anymore.

 

The acknowledged unspoken truth that the two of them were exes was apparent in their discretion of each other’s personal, specifically the romantic, side of their lives. It was a block of ice that they didn’t bother picking at because they were afraid that they would dislike the shape the mold would take. 

 

Besides, in what sense would it make sense for them to question if the other party was seeing someone. It was unjustified, noisy, and irrelevant. All in all, none of their business to know either way.

 

“A lot of has changed between us, huh, hyung?” Kyungsoo remarked with a sober smile. Tight grip on the waist of his red cup, uneasy by the fact that there would be nothing for him to hold with his antsy fingers if he did let go of the object. Grasping at anything in the air to say, “Has life been good to you?”

 

An honest question out of curiosity and concern, but it was still desperate to keep the talk alive by the neck. Chanyeol answered with a shy nod, “It has.”

 

Kyungsoo squeezed a little at his cup. His eyes attempted to find something peculiar in the dancing crowd, but it only shadowed over his anxiety. He hated to admit that Chanyeol really did look handsome tonight, and his heart was not reliable as it was too busy running away. “Good.”

 

“How about  _ you _ ?” Chanyeol used his low voice, soft but audible enough for only Kyungsoo to hear, subconsciously sending a chill down Kyungsoo’s spine. 

 

“I’ve seen better days.”

 

“Good,” Chanyeol copied the stoic remark and expression to the point of mockery. An expected roar of excitement from the crowd explored the sound barrier, which was practically non-existent at this point, when the beat dropped. Was it even possible for it to be any louder? 

 

Hesitant but persistent to try to make light of their disposition with each other, Kyungsoo asked, “Did you come here alone?”

 

“No, I came with a few friends.”

 

“I did as well,” responded Kyungsoo, nodding away like a host ready to go to the next section of the show. The hallway was connected to the kitchen, and Kyungsoo caught a glimpse of Minseok, one of the friends he came with, snickering and following an unfamiliar man to a room upstairs. Promptly tempted to use his friend as an excuse to leave, Kyungsoo headed in the same direction, “I have to go,” he said a little too hurried. 

 

“Oh, wait up, your beer!” Chanyeol rushed to follow on the right of Kyungsoo’s side, but he was intercepted by a drunkard passing in the opposite direction. The force was overwhelming, causing Chanyeol to be shoved to the left, which inadvertently pinned Kyungsoo to the wall. A crushed and emptied red cup between their chests, respective lips close in proximity to touch, and their starry eyes gazing at each other in fear, expectation, and wonder. 

 

How awkward… to be up against each other’s bodies in the middle of the passageway between the hallway to upstairs and the kitchen. What splendid luck they had with one another. Being the logical person, Kyungsoo almost moved away but didn’t because a new gravity held him down in place. 

 

Throwing whatever logical sense he had, he pushed forward, toes pushing off the floor to reach Chanyeol’s lips. Kyungsoo supposed a night without regret was better than a night with wonder. 

 

It made matters worse when Chanyeol closed his eyes alongside with Kyungsoo and kissed back with full force. Whether the alcohol had something to do with it or not, he and Kyungsoo were screwed the morning after. The EDM in the background silenced by the loudest smack of their lips together. Still holding Kyungsoo’s beer bottle in his hand, Chanyeol pulled away, “I might as well fuck it up,” brought the rim of the glass to his lips and chugged a huge gulp and returned his tingly kisses back on the epitome of excellence.

 

“You’re so attractive,” Kyungsoo whispered between the fickle gasps of air, hands snaking around the taller guy’s waist. Body rolling to a love song in his head. It was fun to synchronize his body with someone familiar tonight rather than an utter stranger. 

 

Swaying. Pretending this friction between Chanyeol was rare to find. And if it disappeared, at this excruciating moment, Kyungsoo would forget what the other man would taste like.

 

Chanyeol had to give themselves a proper breather because they did something reckless without any real thought into what they committed. “I, just, I can’t, wow, uh, was that okay to do, for us?” Chanyeol stuttered his ramble, scratching away an unidentified trouble on the back of his neck.

 

“Y-yeah,” Kyungsoo horribly shrugged, walking back to the kitchen because his legs couldn’t stand in one place for a second longer. Finding a sanctuary in the corner, intrigued by how no one (besides that one drunkard that left in a hurry) was coming to the kitchen to chill besides him and Chanyeol, “If it means nothing, it means nothing then. Just… casual interaction between us partygoers. At a party. Yeah.”

 

“Yeah,” Chanyeol followed, laughing with no substance to it, awkwardly rubbing his left bicep to recreate the kind of warmth to match the intensity of the fire that lit between his lips and Kyungsoo’s a moment ago. 

 

Soon, Kyungsoo sat on the kitchen counter, dangling his feet like an impatient child at the doctor’s office. Dancing bodies in the background disappeared from his line of vision, he sucked in his bottom lip before saying, “Yeah.”

 

Chanyeol’s cologne already interacted with Kyungsoo’s own cologne, and they mixed to make a delightful scent that Chanyeol had to remake or else he would go mad. “Uh, huh.”

 

“Yup.”

 

“Yeah, this isn’t working,” Chanyeol confessed, closing his space to Kyungsoo like a magnet, only taking two antsy strides to reach the shorter male on the counter, placing himself between Kyungsoo’s legs as if he  _ belonged _ there, “want to go back to making out?”

 

“Yes, please,” Kyungsoo didn’t hesitate to put his hands on Chanyeol’s face and pull him into a deepened kiss.

* * *

 

Chanyeol had a fun time. He admitted to it in his head. Kissing Kyungsoo was not a regret, it left him in wonder of what they could do next time they see each other. Although, it was wishful thinking to believe that there would be a ‘next time.’ Chanyeol had to be realistic with himself there.

 

“Hey! Where were you last night?” Baekhyun, his best friend and roommate, wandered into the living room where Chanyeol was lazily slung on the couch like pants on a clothesline.

 

“At the party. Where else?” responded Chanyeol, but he couldn’t spare his glance away from the ceiling for whatever reason. It was suddenly so damn interesting.

 

“Okay,” Baekhyun shrugged, momentarily walking before deciding to jump on top of Chanyeol’s stomach, causing a brief sensation of pain to course through the taller man slowly. “Then why couldn’t I find you? Or at least why any one of the other guys couldn’t find you either last night?”

 

“Oh, don’t start, Baek,” Chanyeol grunted, strongly desiring to punch the cheeky bastard in his gut, “I know for a fact that I lost you first at the poolside. And everyone else just disappeared one by one.”

 

“You’re right, I guess,” Baekhyun shrugged with nonchalance, noting that he had nothing to fight on that standpoint. He let the subject go for the time being and reached, with a struggle, to grab the remote on the coffee table that Chanyeol bought under the pretense that ‘the living room was too spacious without one.’ Bullshit.

* * *

 

Invited out to another college party at a different house at a later period in time, Chanyeol was dragged out of his room, once again, while making poetry as part of his literature homework. The topic was love, but the major components of it was broken down for multiple individual due dates. 

 

The first one was about the first step of falling in love. As much as Chanyeol wanted to think, he couldn’t write down or think of a possible line that could express what love was to him. If it meant anything, it was a confusing concept; something that can easily be mistaken for as infatuation. 

 

He especially couldn’t do it when he was trapped inside of a darkened room that smelled of alcohol, perfume, and a hint of weed. Well, the truth was that this place was the best option for him to get the most optimal quiet space. Even if it meant that he had to sit in a circle with strangers in a round of spin-the-bottle… 

 

“So, the bottle landed on handsome lilac boy over here,” a matured college woman called out to Chanyeol, “dare or double dare?”

 

_ Of course, college students weren’t playing with truth anymore. Too boring anyway.  _

 

“Uh, can I get a redo?” Chanyeol suggested with a silly smile as if he just wasn’t zoning out a moment ago.

 

“Nope,” responded the woman in charge of the question. 

 

“Okay, hm, dare, I guess,” Chanyeol nodded to his choice, predicting the dare to at least be somewhat perverted since, duh, college students with high-end sex drives were a factor in play in this game.

 

“French kiss me,” she leaned in with seductiveness, her coiled hair waving down her right shoulder like spiraling waterfalls. Nothing shy about her personality and nothing sly either. It was honest to the point of fallacy.

 

But, Chanyeol obliged only because he could care less that his lips were captured by strangers as long as it felt good to him. Have fun, be a little reckless, college party night and whatnot. Yeah. That was the mindset to keep as Chanyeol pulled himself across the empty middle space on all fours, parting his mouth to let the asker’s tongue slither into him. No sparks behind the action, but it certainly had a kick to it that made Chanyeol’s screws loose. 

 

A solid five seconds went down before Chanyeol pushed away because he had enough of the sloppy action. Returning to his spot in the circle, he thanked the woman for the kiss still, and she happily appreciated the words. The game went on meanwhile Chanyeol attempted to conjure substance for his poetry homework. It still was a blank, though.

 

The door opened, leaking the hallway light straight into the sunken darkness, and Kyungsoo appeared with the treacherous red cup in his hand. He saw Chanyeol immediately in the left end of the circle of strangers before he decided to chug the rest of his drink and put the cup down on the floor to be found later in the morning. “Let me join, too,” he announced suddenly.

 

Uh, oh. 

 

Twenty minutes escalated and Chanyeol was certain that the circle was rigged. Or at least the game was. Apparently, Kyungsoo was a magnet to the bottle since every person that spun it so far landed on Kyungsoo. What kind of luck did the fellow possess? Chanyeol swore that was unreal, but it happened in front of his very eyes. 

 

The dares Kyungsoo committed were increasingly risky each time as well. He already had to strip down to his boxers for the remainder of game -he did it with ease-. He had to drink a shot of soju -it was a weak dare, Chanyeol had to admit, but it also meant that Kyungsoo was willing to impair his common sense. There’s danger in that-. One guy asked Kyungsoo to lick whip cream -Chanyeol was intrigued on why the spraycan was conveniently nearby- off of one nipple. So many dares accomplished by one short fellow.

 

Chanyeol assumed that Kyungsoo’s timid nature would deter him from making even half of these dares come true, but apparently, Chanyeol had to recheck his facts. He adored that Kyungsoo was brave enough, or stupid enough, to complete everything that was asked of him. No one forced anyone to do anything, so Chanyeol admired that Kyungsoo never said ‘no’ yet.  

 

“Kyungsoo, your turn to spin,” a voice said, but the physical body behind it was lost in the darkness. 

 

Besides, the only thing that shined to Chanyeol tonight was Kyungsoo.

 

“Okay,” the shorter man comfortably sat in his raven-black boxer briefs, skin revealed, exposed like a madman on the street. He was a little shy at first when he was stripped down, but he confidently got used to the sly stares and returned them back with similar interest. Careful hand laid on the waist of the bottle, tilted his hand a slight 180 degree, and released it counterclockwise. Round and round like a star spiraling in space.

 

Chanyeol found Kyungsoo to be courageous; manly; a person that called the shots; a born leader. Like a sheep, he was getting herded into the pen helplessly to the other’s command. The real surprise was that Chanyeol was half-expecting it to be any other members in the room except for himself, but the bottle had a funny way of telling where the tip landed on. “Well,” Chanyeol played enough of the game to understand how to approach casually, “Kyungsoo,” lips marinating the name, “I choose double dare.”

 

It nearly killed everyone, gasps around to exaggerate the experience, that their tallest player was finally choosing double dare after many rounds of playing this outdated game of spin-the-bottle. Kyungsoo hummed a little mischievous, giving way for the little light in the room to shine on his sugar-brown skin. Shadows lining every contour of his body, he subconsciously blinked at slower rates, making Chanyeol the focal point of his eye. “I double dare you to kiss me on the cheek.”

 

“Really?” Chanyeol was incredulous that it was such an accomplishable dare without hassle. Not wasting his time, he scooched over to Kyungsoo’s face and laid a fat smooch on the cheek. “There.”

 

“Okay, your turn, Flower Boy,” Kyungsoo taunted without knives in his speech.

 

“I got it,” Chanyeol laughed to fit the light mood, spinning the bottle. One revelation. No tension in the air because everyone was too ingrained in their tranquility to care whom it landed on. Two revelations. The stillness in everyone’s disposition made room for the slow love songs outside of the bedroom to permeate a little audibly. By the third spin, it slowed down to a halt and pointed directly at Kyungsoo, not that it was a surprise to any of the players as it seemed that Kyungsoo was always getting picked on. No matter, Chanyeol grinned with all his teeth, “Dare or double dare, Kyungsoo?”

 

“Double dare,” casually answered Kyungsoo.

 

Chanyeol had a perfect solution for him to have more time with Kyungsoo outside of the party life while he kept his academic life in check. “Okay, I double dare you to help me with my literature homework,” the sheer essence of the dare made the circle erupt in profound laughter. It was like everyone was brought back to preschool with the command that Chanyeol made. Though, no one said it was an utterly stupid idea, so they only let it slide and gave way for Kyungsoo’s answer to settle in.

 

“Sure, you got yourself a partner,” Kyungsoo cheekily smiled.

* * *

 

Chanyeol’s cheeks were reddened beyond belief since he was criticized over and over again about how his poetry was shitty. He sat at his desk and crumpled another piece of overfilled paper, laid out with all the rejected poems that Kyungsoo disapproved of. Kyungsoo wasn’t holding back being his literary partner and encouraged that the poems that Chanyeol written should be something that came from one’s heart. In every figurative way possible. From within, Chanyeol had to express something that had police tape over it. 

 

“Oh, come on! Just think of someone… you love, and stuff,” Kyungsoo sheepishly answered, helplessly putting his heart on the line again. He shouldn’t expect anything from simply helping Chanyeol, but his heart was a slithering snake. Distancing himself from Chanyeol’s desk, he chuckled to how grown they became to be. Where did the time go? Kyungsoo remembered how shy the two used to be about their first kiss together.

 

“I’m trying!” Chanyeol was frustrated all this time in his room as he peered into Kyungsoo’s soft brown-honey eyes. It sent out a spark inside of Chanyeol to ignite the fire that would burn the taller man intense like a ghost pepper creeping down his throat. He wrote on a fresh new paper and laughed at how he could play around and see how Kyungsoo would react to this light-hearted poem instead. He handed the paper a few minutes later to Kyungsoo, “Go ahead, read it to yourself.”

 

“Okay, I got it,” Kyungsoo sighed, wondering if Minseok cooked rice at home because he was getting hungry and didn’t feel like having to cook every single thing at the house. Once his eyes read the one stanza that consisted of five lines, his soft heart tingled at the surprisingly strong energy that the words carried. Kyungsoo quickly finished it and proudly hugged Chanyeol for the great effort the taller fellow put into the piece, “Ah, this is it. This is the one you should submit.” 

 

The paper slipped out of Kyungsoo’s hands, but it wasn’t caught voluntarily as it glided in slow motion to the floor. It read:

__ Killer   
Your eyes are, lips unafraid of saying my name,    
Ubiquitous you happen to be, like oxygen, you became   
Nothing less than imperative, crucial, or necessary.    
God, let me taste you again, let my name marinate your lips tenderly once more.

Chanyeol recently turned in his poem and got a fantastic grade on it with Kyungsoo’s help. It was surprising that it was treated with high respect from his professor. The next topic of poetry was falling out of love, which Chanyeol should know what that exact feeling was like. Chanyeol’s professor said that the poem could only be one stanza with two lines to test the student’s creativity to a slight challenge. It was due in the next time the class met, so Chanyeol supposed he had time to indulge in a little leisure time. 

 

Which meant that he was going to the invite-only party with Baekhyun and Sehun tonight. Joonmyeon had a paper due online, so he couldn’t attend despite receiving an invite. Sad life of Joonmyeon, Chanyeol supposed.

 

Living an almost stereotypical college life had its perks, Chanyeol noticed it as he tinily hoped that Kyungsoo was going to be there as well.

  
  
  


Coincidences were a matter of time and place, and Chanyeol happened to meet Jongin and Jongdae at this exclusive party. These two were apparently close friends of Kyungsoo, but they never heard of Chanyeol before in regards to Kyungsoo’s past love life. It started with a game of beer pong that had dares and truths written on coasters underneath the cups. 

 

The coasters were like a lifeline that protects a player from losing a cup to the opponent. The pure chance that the first cup that Jongin got was a ‘truth’ cup that read, “Who was the first person in your mind today?”

 

Hence, this led to Chanyeol confidently thinking that he was safe to blurt Kyungsoo’s name. He was sure that there was no one that should personally know the man too deeply to be affected by a honey-coated name.

 

Until Jongin gasped and retorted, “You know Kyungsoo?”

 

One thing led to this and another led to that. The beer pong ended with a tie-breaker: one-to-one. Drunkened, Chanyeol steadily losing his grip on the ball as the last cup stood in his blurry way. Jongin and Jongdae had a strong coordination together, but it was easier to focus on these type of games alone. “I gothu!” Chanyeol slurred as he threw the ball, playing in slow-motion in time. It soared freely and acted as a bullet that successfully hit the mark that it was aimed at. A splash flew into the air as the white ping pong ball floated over the alcohol in the red cup. There was no coaster underneath it, so there was no way Jongin and Jongdae could compete anymore. 

 

The game officially ended before Chanyeol had to hurl all the beer out of his stomach as he quickly lost interest in the miraculous victory. Jongin occupied Chanyeol to the bathroom as Jongdae shrugged and scurried his way to the kitchen to grab a few snacks from the chip bowl. 

 

“I beeeetter do my homewerk now!” Chanyeol giggled as he whipped out his phone, finishing up vomiting inside of the bowl of the toilet. He sheepishly opened up “Notes” and began to type up his un-filtered mind. 

 

“I don’t think it’s safe for you to do that, pal,” Jongin tried to reason, but he read the poem without recognizing how much it meant to Chanyeol.

 

Before Jongin forced Chanyeol to lock his phone, the incoming blackout of the screen was inevitable as the last light of Chanyeol’s words shined: 

_ Do you, for you. And I’ll do me, for me. _

_ One day, we can either cross paths or never see each other again. _

There was more to it than a drunk whim of words. Chanyeol wished for something old to come anew, to repaint his life over the unrefined dissatisfaction. It was something to think about classically like analyzing if the author used a rogerian thesis or not. Although the impaired mind from alcohol was the reason he was writing this stupid poem at something-dark-o’clock, the truth was that he was only creating this poem because Chanyeol’s heart and mind was yearning for Kyungsoo.

 

As the toilet water swirled perfectly down the pipe, Chanyeol felt dizzy watching the water spin slowly. It only made him puke a little more, but there was still something tugging at him besides Jongin’s tight knuckles on his shirt. He can figure it out next time. Vomit first.

* * *

 

Much to Chanyeol’s surprise, his drunk poem got him a decent grade from his professor. It was not the same level of impact, but it was still good and followed the format neatly. Chanyeol had to showcase his grade to Kyungsoo when he got the chance, and it certainly came up quick when he and Kyungsoo met at his dorm room that day. 

 

“I’m glad you got a good score, but don’t you think your words in that last one was too sophisticated for someone drunk?” Kyungsoo teased as he leaned against the desk counter.

 

“Maybe I’m a classy drunk, you prude,” Chanyeol stuck his tongue out, earning a soft delightful chuckle from his friend. 

 

“If you’re classy, then I’m talkative and have great vision,” Kyungsoo readjusted his glasses on the ridge of his nose. The noise in the room was light but meaningful while the sun shined through the material of the window into the marginally cluttered room of instruments, used papers for school and music, and the occasion clothes in random places. 

 

“I don’t like your tone,” remarked Chanyeol, propping himself on the bed with an inviting gesture to the other man, “you might get punished for it.”

 

“You don’t say,” Kyungsoo recklessly allowed himself to indulge in the invitation between the taller man’s legs, letting their bodies connect like two different shapes trying to fit into one mold. One pluck of a guitar string was only a sound lost in an empty room, but a continuous rhythm of strings being plucked was pure music.

 

It was this exact pattern that Chanyeol followed and hoped that his sound would reach Kyungsoo’s, so that together, they would make a song together that will ring through the walls into the neighboring dorms.

 

After the two finished their ‘song-making’ together, they needed to dress up again, but Kyungsoo curiously put on Chanyeol’s boxer briefs that had sunny side-up eggs all over a plain black background. “I can’t believe I’m da— _ daring _ enough to put these on!” Kyungsoo nervously laughed at his close call.

 

“Well, you look cute in them,” Chanyeol complimented, cozily laying on the bed with his head furrowed into his pillow.

 

“Okay, let’s get you started on your last poem,” Kyungsoo tried to push Chanyeol to do work post-sex session.

 

What a cruel man.

 

“Okay, okay, I got it,” Chanyeol groaned, collecting his spirits to stay motivated to do the very last poem requested from his professor. One stanza, three lines. Topic: staying in love with someone. Easy enough, right?

  
  
  
  
  


It had taken at least an hour and a half of work before Kyungsoo was content with the work that Chanyeol provided. The taller man struggled with Kyungsoo’s high standards, but he was beginning to pick up his pace and made an sincere adjustment to his writing to reach the tips of his friend’s bar. “I know you know it that this is the best I can give. This. Is. My. Style,” Chanyeol confessed.

 

“I know, and it’s good, too,” Kyungsoo sighed contently. “I’m proud of you.”

  
  


“Let’s go out today to give ourselves a break,” Chanyeol suggested as he leaned back with the two front supports of his chair slightly lifting off the ground.

 

“I suppose that’s the least you deserve for your hard work.”

 

The two proceeded to dress in proper attire before heading out to a street vendor selling takoyaki sticks. The paper left on Chanyeol’s desk was the last of his professor’s assignments, and it was Chanyeol’s last piece of work for poetry.

 

Engraved in lead, the paper held the words with pride and other emotions:

 

__ Show me how to keep you; don't let me be   
Oblivious to your needs, your hurt,   
Or your dreams; write me into your chapter, darling

* * *

 

Once all the poems were finished and graded fantastically, Chanyeol worried that he and Kyungsoo wouldn’t have anything else to do together anymore. He patiently waited inside of the school’s café since he found out that Kyungsoo worked part-time there. “Invite him out, I told myself, it’ll be okay, I thought,” Chanyeol was building up his anxiety like blocks of Jenga pieces before he heard his name called out for his order.

 

Kyungsoo left the ‘Employees Only’ door and made his ditsy way to Chanyeol that looked about two seconds away from a mental breakdown. Feeling the need to comfort the poor tall man, “You okay? Want a bucket?” A chuckle escaped him loosely, scaring the zoned-out Chanyeol.

 

“Ah! I, uh, yeah, huh?” Chanyeol scrambled to his senses.

 

Kyungsoo laughed at this cute display of hesitation and confusion, so he took Chanyeol’s hand and guided him outside for a shot of fresh air to remedy the nerves. “See, don’t you feel better?” A soft voice called Chanyeol while the sun’s rays poured into his pores and rejuvenated him. 

 

“Yes,” Chanyeol released a held breath, shooting an adoring look at Kyungsoo. “Thank you.”

 

Kyungsoo figured that the dare he received a while ago from Chanyeol from that house party was over, but it didn’t mean that the time spent together was going to magically erase itself from Kyungsoo’s heart. It was there, burned deep into the tissues, the traces of Chanyeol running through him like blood. 

 

Strolling through the campus, they find themselves heading towards the street outside of the school. Heading nowhere but somewhere, it was about time for Kyungsoo to question the relationship he had with his ex.

 

They held hands together in public from time to time, met at parties and flirted heavily, had sex on the side periodically, and help each other with homework. There needed to be definite answers or else someone was going to get unnecessarily hurt. Frankly, Kyungsoo wasn’t going to stick around to find out that it would be him in the end that got the shortest stick in the bundle. He had to take his chance comprehend where he and Chanyeol was going in the long road ahead of them.

 

Kyungsoo spontaneously asserted his concerns aloud, “So, what are we? I need to know before I misunderstand something.”

 

Stopping Chanyeol in his giant steps, he bug-eyed the shorter man before hesitating to answer, “Well, that’s a good question.”

 

“Spill it,” Kyungsoo wasn’t having any bullshit right now.

 

It was an okay time to confess the truth about Chanyeol’s poetry, he supposed… “You know those poems I made?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Well, if you put the poems in the order of falling in love, staying in love, and falling out, the first letter of each line creates… ugh, it’s so embarrassing,” Chanyeol’s sweaty hands began to drench Kyungsoo, so he took it away and timidly turned away also.

 

“I’m not a mind reader, Chan—”

 

“It’s your name! It spells your name. There!” Chanyeol exclaimed to the world to hear. Now, quietly, “I wrote those about you.”

 

“Oh,” Kyungsoo was clueless for once, something he often wouldn’t be in the state of. 

 

“Yeah,” Chanyeol deadpanned in his tracks, “yeah.”

 

Kyungsoo scoffed and rolled his eyes. He was a fool. A pure fool to worry as much as he did. “Come here, big guy,” said Kyungsoo shortly, pulling the other man by the back of his head to push their lips together softly. Once they separated, Kyungsoo walked away with a glance, but he knew that the taller fellow would promptly follow. ‘Take me on a couple of dates, and maybe I’ll give us a second chance.”

 

In the gentle tone that Kyungsoo used, Chanyeol figured out that even if they didn’t go on those dates that there was a strong chance that he was going to still get that second chance with him. But, to make the person he loves happy, “Yes, of course!”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope everyone had a good time and just remained positive with their feelings with my story. I didn't fully want to give the story a giant ending since that would mean more development in the plot. I just wanted them to have a simple story with a simple plot. I didn't want to make it too complex, but if you still found this to be boring, then that's okay! Be expressive in your opinions, but never be harsh without justified reasons.
> 
> In all honesty, it's predictive that the outcome would be this coming from me (if you've read my work before), but I like this style, sooooo oh well. I want to continue to convey the small message that communication is key to a lot of things and solve small, or big, problems that people have with each other. I always want my story to be as realistic as possible for me (ironic since it's fiction), so yeah, Idk why I'm explaining all these but it helps me feel better after putting all that work into this story.
> 
> ON A BETTER NOTE, HAVE A GREAT DAY, Y'ALL. I HOPE YOU ALL ARE HAVING A GREAT AND FUN TIME OUT THERE, AND EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT, THAT'S OKAY. IT'S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY. BUT YEAH, I CAN GO ON WITH THIS, BUT I'D RATHER LET Y'ALL DO Y'ALL'S THING. GOOD DAY!


End file.
